Shell’s message for Labour needs to be heard: Now is not the time to abandon oil and gas, says ALEX BRUMMER

Labour’s energy guru Ed Miliband has been a missing factor in the election campaign.

In spite of the Labour row over the retreat from an original GBP28billion annual spend on net zero transition, Miliband is promising to fill a ‘vacuum of leadership’ over climate change on the world stage.

Labour’s manifesto mission to ‘Make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower’ is all over the place.

Under pressure from Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, pledges on new spending on green energy were scythed to GBP5billion, a fraction of what is needed.

Labour’s energy guru and former leader Ed Miliband (pictured) is promising to fill a ‘vacuum of leadership’ over climate change on the world stage.

A Tory plan to ban gas boilers from 2035 has been shelved. How the headline-catching Great British Energy company is going to bring down household bills is not explained.

Onshore wind farms are one solution, but that means defeating ‘nimbyism’.

The rows between the National Grid and local interests over new, bigger overhead pylon cables offers insight.

Transition could be slowed rather than speeded up if Labour’s moratorium on new North Sea oil drilling is implemented, along with extra windfall taxes on explorers. All that will do is drive investment by big energy overseas.

Some of the most influential investors in green projects have been oil majors.

Both BP and Shell have been punished by shareholders for their green ambitions and are refocusing on fossil fuels.

Shell has revealed that it is pausing construction of one of Europe’s largest bio-fuel projects in the Netherlands.

BP is placing on hold biofuel projects in Germany and the US.

Since Wael Sawan took over at Shell in January, it has abandoned renewable and hydrogen schemes to concentrate on oil and gas. It has even considered moving its share listing from Britain to the US.

Losing one of the UK’s biggest investors and taxpayers would be a calamity.

That is not to say that green investment is doomed. Macquarie, an enormous infrastructure investor in the UK, is pressing ahead with all manner of projects.

It is experimenting with transforming its Roadchef motorway outlets into EV charging stations.

Reeves has made ‘securonomics’ her catchphrase.

At a moment of geo-political distress it would be bonkers to leave 10 billion to 15 billion barrels of untapped oil reserves in the North Sea, chase away Shell and go cold on new nuclear.

Revolut waiting game

Long before Andrew Bailey became governor of the Bank of England, he was an enthusiast for Britain’s talent in fintech.

He argued that if Brexit were to cost the City jobs, the financial start-ups could fill the gap.

Few have more potential than Revolut, which doubled its income to GBP1.8billion in 2023 assisted by surging interest rate income.

It is paradoxical that Bailey, now in charge at the Bank, has undermined trust in Revolut by delaying a UK banking licence.

The Prudential Regulatory Authority rightly has been cautious given the difficulty the company had in producing reliable 2021 and 2022 accounts amid questions from auditors.

Nevertheless, Revolut is pressing ahead with a GBP400m share sale which could place a value of GBP32.3billion on the enterprise. If and when a licence arrives, a London listing could be on the cards.

Data rules

What will Bloomberg make of it? The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) is doing a deal with Dow Jones which will bring reporting from the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and the Dow Jones news wire onto its platforms.

Dow Jones will gain access to LSEG data feeds.

Odds on a full merger, when the future of Rupert Murdoch’s empire finally is decided, must be narrowing.

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